Potato Pork Produces Pot Pasta

Who doesn't love that alteration?  Lot of pasta of late, that probably means the weather is turning cool and the stove's lure tends to win over going outside to grill. Although I do grill year round it is funny how READY I am to head out to grill in the springtime and how equally READY I am to focus on indoor cooking in the fall, or to be more geographically specific, when the temperatures start to dip.  The older I've gotten the more I really look forward to and really crave the foods of the various seasons.  Menu items in the short future include butternut squash, collards, sweet potatoes and caramelized onions.  I find myself turning to baked, roasted and pan searing as preferential cooking methods.  I think the simple act of turning the oven on warms me.  The cooler temps and darker days encourage us inside and focus us on home and the special people in our lives that make it so.

In this vein, I made a quick weeknight supper of stuffed baked potatoes baking up some russets and topping with ground turkey, broccoli and a cheddar cheese sauce.  Friday found me with more time to devote to dinner and I decided to take my PlannedOver turkey and turn it into a tasty treat!  Michael loves pasta and it, along with eggs, and salad can pretty much turn anything into a PlannedOver!  I started a roux with butter and flour and made a sauce using PlannedOver greens broth as well as a can of chicken broth, finished it off with a generous handful of Parmesan cheese.  Into the pot went the ground turkey, cooked pasta and broccoli.  I like to slightly under cook my pasta and let it finish in the sauce.  I feel like the pasta absorbs some of the sauce and becomes infinitely more flavorful.

I would love to hear what you do with your PlannedOvers and Pasta!

Enjoy!  Happy Eating!

PlannedOver via MIL

We were out of town recently to attend a convention for our travel company Take the Trip and my husband's mom graciously offered to house sit and keep an eye on the baby doggy and the not so baby teenager.  I am always grateful for Spencer to stay at home rather than board him for any length of time, and the teenager is also very grateful to NOT have a change in his routine.  As a show of my appreciation I like to cook a few things for them to have on hand for suppers and snacks and the like, upon our return it seems as though my plannie nature has rubbed off and she created the ultimate planned over!  What began as our farewell dinner of pasta, greeted our return as soup combining many elements of many meals planned in our absense!!!  Brilliant.

Planned Over Rotisserary Chicken
Stock 
Planned Over Greens
Planned Over Pasta

Enjoy!!! Happy Eating!!

What was once Pot Roast is now Pasta

I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but I live with two very carnivorous males.  One of which is of the teenage species, and I'll use that term lightly.  For anyone who has been one, or has been around one, you know, I know you know.  The teen male in my house can eat large quantities of well, pretty much anything, but especially meat.  So it should not have really come as any surprise to me that as the end of the week neared and time to survey the scene of the inside of my refrigerator unfolded, I found this.  The container which had previously held the plannedovered chuck roast in it's delicious sauce, now contained only sauce.  But it was really good sauce and destined to once again serve a starring role.  I decided on an uber savory mac and cheese of sorts and got to work. A quick whir of the immersion blender got things started and I began a bechamel on the stove with a little, flour, butter and milk.  To that I found some odds and ends cheesed which was quickly grated and added to the bechamel as was the plannedover chuck roast sauce. Some sauteed spinach, onions and mushrooms amped  up the umami factor and it all was tossed with spiral pasta.

Happy Eating!!!